Work took me to Maryland and southeastern Pennsylvania last weekend, so of course I took the opportunity to get in some railfanning. I was able to make a few stops between Washington, DC and York, PA, starting with Thurmont, MD, where Hagerstown & Frederick box motor 5 is displayed next to a former H&F substation. The last time I saw H&F 5 was in 1998, when it was still at the Rockhill Trolley Museum. It's been nicely fixed up.
Next came a stop in Gettysburg, PA, where I took the opportunity to pay my respects to the memory of the 160,000 or so Americans who fought there in 1863. I stopped at the "High Water Mark," the famous copse of trees on Cemetery Ridge, which is a veritable forest of monuments; at left a 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry soldier, with Brig. Gen. Alexander Webb in the left background and Maj. Gen. George Meade in the distance, is memorialized in bronze. I also did a bit of railfanning while I was at it, snapping a photo of the unidentified bobber caboose below left, now attached to a battlefield tour company office in between the Cemetery Ridge and Seminary Ridge lines. Below right is the 1859 depot in Gettysburg, used as a hospital during the battle and site of Abraham Lincoln's arrival in town for the famous Gettysburg Address.
Between Gettysburg and York is the small, mid-19th century town of New Oxford, home to a small railroad museum in the center of town. Out front is a Pennsylvania Railroad bobber, and next to the station is a heavyweight RPO lettered for the Western Maryland.
Across the street was a pair of coaches that had apparently been gutted and converted into office space, now available for lease; anyone know the histories of these cars?
My final destination was York, where I stopped at the Industrial & Agricultural Museum, which I highly recommend to anyone in the area. The primary reason for my visit was York Railways 123, a 1916 Brill single-trucker that has recently undergone some cosmetic restoration work (note the access ramp under construction). The museum has an interesting assortment of displays - note the airplane buzzing the streetcar - including various cars, trucks, agricultural tractors and implements, a working grist mill, a large machine shop, fire engines, a huge mechanical refrigeration plant from the late 1800's, and more. The EMD Model 40 at below left was displayed in front of the streetcar - it was built for the US Navy and later worked at the Harley-Davidson plant in York - while the stationary steam engine at below right was in amongst the machine tools.
Finally, before I left town I made a quick stop at the Maryland Avenue carbarn of York Railways; the outlines of the original arched barn doors at the front of the building are still evident.
News and views of progress at the Illinois Railway Museum
Friday, January 15, 2010
Trip Report - Southeast Pennsylvania
Posted by Frank Hicks at 11:17 AM
Labels: Trip Reports
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